Student chefs prepare to present their healthy lunch at a Capitol Hill briefing on school food reform in March 2010

Changing the Future of School Food

Cooking up Change challenges teams of high school students to create a healthy and great-tasting school meal that meets high nutrition standards, draws from ingredients commonly available to food service, and can be easily prepared in a school kitchen. Teams of finalists chosen from a national pool of applicants will prepare their recipes for a prestigious panel of judges at the finals in May 2011.

Cooking up Change engages students and the broader community in a dialogue about changing the future of school food so that all children have access to lunches as nutritious and appealing as those created in the contest.

Healthy Schools Campaign brings a meal designed by students to policymakers to raise awareness of the ongoing need for resources and standards that support healthful school food.

The unique strength of Cooking up Change comes from its power to elevate a meal and a message created by students so that it reaches their peers nationwide and the elected leaders whose decisions about school food policy affect students’ health so directly.